A state budget passed last week by the Wisconsin Legislature included subtle language that will repeal the state's Medicaid whistleblower provision, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
The state provision, which had been in place since 2005, allowed whistleblowers who reported fraud allegations to receive a percentage of a successful false claims award. One Milwaukee lawyer who has litigated multi-million dollar fraud settlements called the repeal "shortsighted and dumb," and it would effectively leave Wisconsin out of future national whistleblower claims. The Department of Justice, however, told the Journal Sentinel that the repeal would "not have much impact--if any--given that there are numerous laws that allow the state to prosecute Medicaid fraud." Article